1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of detecting defects of patterns on a semiconductor substrate and apparatus for performing the method. More specifically exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of detecting defects of patterns on a semiconductor substrate and apparatus for performing the method in order to detect only defects that influence an operation of a circuit including the pattern.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, detection sensitivity is proportional to the number of defects detected by an apparatus for detecting defects of patterns on a semiconductor substrate. As the detection sensitivity of the detection apparatus increases, the number of defects of the patterns on the semiconductor substrate that are detected by the apparatus increases. On the other hand, as the detection sensitivity of the detection apparatus decreases, the number of defects of the patterns on the semiconductor substrate that are detected by the apparatus decreases.
According to the reduction of a design rule of a semiconductor device and the minute sizes of patterns, the detection sensitivity of the detection apparatus is set high in order to detect minute defects of the patterns. Therefore, the number of defects of the patterns on the semiconductor substrate detected by the apparatus increases, so that it is difficult to selectively detect only defects influencing an operation of a circuit including the patterns from among all of the defects that are detected. When the detection sensitivity is not set high, the defects of the patterns on the semiconductor substrate may not all be detected.